© Elliot Essman 2005. All rights reserved.

These pages contain the complete 2005 revised text of Building Yourself, public speaking trainer Elliot Essman's guide to living the successful life.

Elliot Essman Public Speaking Training
Building Yourself Table of Contents
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• But it is pretty to see what money will do. Samuel Pepys (1633–1703)

“Enough” money will increase as your life becomes more complicated. Your own needs will grow. The government insists on larger and larger shares of your wealth. But that's all right—you can handle it. You grow constantly. You can easily keep up with your financial needs. In fact, as you gain wisdom along with experience, you can get ahead of things.

“Some” money is a trap. You may gain some initial success and have more money than you had before. You may come to think that this is a lot of money, so you can rest on your laurels. But you're wrong. You only have some money. And some money is simply not enough. It would also be a tragedy for you to earn only some money, since you're talented enough to earn so much more. To be satisfied with the fruits of your initial small successes would ignore your future.

If this concept troubles you or if you cannot understand it, let me say it in a simpler way. To get true rewards in both money and personal growth, you've got to think big. You set goals. Your goals are realistic but ambitious. They are always fluid, always ready to expand. You keep stretching the boundaries of life. You keep re‑setting your goals.

If your attitude toward money is healthy, you can never be too rich (though you can still be too thin). If at any point you find that your wealth has become a burden for you, there are many fine causes to which you can donate your money.